FounderFuel Accelerator
Compared with the 242 other application forms we have read
- Scored mainly on your track record and who is on your team. 18 lead with that.
- States real length limits, about 5,183 words in total. Only 64 tell you how long to write.
- The work here is mostly writing long answers. For 59%, the job is assembling documents instead.
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Eligibility & Details
What this program funds and who can apply
Program Description
Canada's premier VC-backed early-stage accelerator, delivering a 4-month intensive program for tech founders with a focus on leadership, narrative, networks, and execution skills. Backed by three of Canada's most active venture funds — Real Ventures, Panache Ventures, and Inovia Capital — FounderFuel culminates in Canada's largest Demo Day (1,000+ attendees from the Canadian and international tech ecosystem). The program has backed 100+ companies since 2011 whose combined portfolio has raised more than $600M. Accepted startups receive co-investment access through the three VC partners as part of program completion. The program is based in Montreal with a focus on Quebec and pan-Canadian tech founders.
Eligibility Requirements
- Early-stage tech startup — pre-seed or seed stage
- Founders do not need to relocate full-time — the program is a remote/in-person hybrid: most of the 16 weeks are remote, with 6-8 weeks of in-person programming required at Notman House in Montreal
- Technology-driven business with a scalable model
- No minimum revenue requirement — pre-revenue companies are eligible
- Strong founder team with complementary skills (technical + business) preferred
- Must be available full-time for the 4-month program duration
- FounderFuel can invest only in a Canadian-incorporated entity; a company incorporated elsewhere may still apply if it intends to create a Canadian investible entity.
Quick Assessment
Funding Details
- Amount
- Up to $120K$120K CAD co-investment (equity); access to 3 VC partner networks
- Type
- Program
- Level
- Private
- Deadline
- Annual cohort — application deadline TBD; monitor founderfuel.com for next cohort
Program Scorecard
Competition, effort, and approval at a glance
Difficult — significant preparation needed
Very high competition — highly selective
Moderate — standard requirements
How to Win
Insider tips, common pitfalls, and what successful applicants look like
Insider TipFounderFuel is a mentor-driven program — the strongest applications demonstrate that the founders are as invested in learning and network-building as they are in the co-investment.
Success Profile
Evaluation Criteria
How FounderFuel Accelerator judges your application
What the reviewer scores, what gets applications rejected, and what to write.
Distilled from 6+ source documents, condensed into one brief. Sources as of 2026-09-04.
6 of the sources
- FounderFuel - About founderfuel.com
- FounderFuel 2023 application form - archived live page web.archive.org
- Field schema extracted from S2 web.archive.org
- FounderFuel - Apply founderfuel.com
- FounderFuel - Home founderfuel.com
- FounderFuel - Blog index founderfuel.com
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What FounderFuel Accelerator favours
Tech-driven business models with outsized value in large markets◦
“FounderFuel works with companies across all sectors that use technology to create new business models that generate outsized value in large target markets.”
The form
Company basics
- 1Company-nameshort answerno limit
- 2Company-websiteshort answerno limit
- 3Please describe your company in 1-line (80 characters or less)short answer · 80 characters
- 4In which country is your company headquartered?selectionno limit
- 5When was the company founded?short answerno limit
- 6Have you incorporated any legal entities for your business?selectionno limit
- 7What is the legal name of the main entity you incorporated for your business?short answer · 20 words
- 8When did you first incorporate it?short answerno limit
- 9In which country did you incorporate it?selectionno limit
- 10Please select your primary business sectorselectionno limit
- 11Please describe your product and what it doeswritten answer · 200 words
- 12Please share a link to a demo of your product if you have one availableshort answerno limit
Team
- 13Applicant-nameshort answerno limit
- 14Applicant-emailshort answerno limit
- 15Applicant-phoneshort answerno limit
- 16Applicant-Provinceselectionno limit
- 17How many founders does the company have? (including you)short answerno limit
- 18Please share a Linkedin profile (or similar) for each founderwritten answer · 100 words
- 19Please share a link to a 1-minute video of the founders introducing themselves and the company as a group.short answerno limit
- 20How long has each founder been working on this? How long has each been full-time? Please add any relevant context.written answer · 150 words
- 21Will all founding team members be able to attend each of the program's in-person weeks in Montreal?selectionno limit
- 22Who among the founders will be able to attend each of the program's in-person weeks in Montreal?short answer · 50 words
- 23How many full-time employees do you have? (excluding the founders)short answerno limit
- 24How many part-time employees do you have? (excluding the founders)short answerno limit
- 25Who are the technical co-founders on the team? Who else has done or is doing technology development on your team? Please add any relevant context.written answer · 200 words
Market
- 26What problem are you solving?written answer · 200 words
- 27Who are you solving this problem for? And why is it so painful for them?written answer · 200 words
- 28Why are you the ones solving this problem? What domain expertise have you accumulated in this area?written answer · 200 words
- 29Who are your current and future competitors?written answer · 200 words
- 30What unique insights do you have about the problem you're solving and how to solve it? What's not obvious to most others who are trying to tackle the same problem?written answer · 200 words
- 31How big is your target market and how fast is it growing?written answer · 200 words
Stage
- 32How mature is your product?selectionno limit
- 33We'd like to know more about your users / customers. How many have you had in each of the last six months? How many are paying? How much do they pay on average?written answer · 100 words
- 34What is your initial launch market?written answer · 100 words
- 35How did your current customers, or how will future ones, find out about your product?written answer · 200 words
- 36What operating metrics or KPIs do you track? What were they in each of the last six months?written answer · 200 words
Revenue
- 37Is your business generating revenue?selectionno limit
- 38How much revenue did you generate in each of the last six months?written answer · 100 words
- 39What are your current and future revenue sources? If you have multiple revenue sources today, how much does each contribute?written answer · 200 words
- 40What are your product, gross profit, and operating profit margins like?written answer · 200 words
Burn
- 41What are your top two expenses in descending order and how much have they averaged in the last six months?short answer · 50 words
- 42What has your average net burn been in the last six months?short answerno limit
- 43How much cash on hand does your company have as of now?short answerno limit
- 44How many months of runway does your company have before running out of cash?short answerno limit
Financing
- 45What % of the company is owned by the founders? Please explain if any of the co-founders owns less than 15% of the business.written answer · 200 words
- 46How much financing have you raised to date?selectionno limit
- 47Do you have any outstanding Notes or SAFEs? Promised shares to employees, advisors? If yes, please list the details/terms of each.written answer · 200 words
- 48Are you looking to raise funds in the next 12 months?selectionno limit
- 49Please share more information about your plans for the current or next fundraise.written answer · 200 words
Ownership
- 50How many shareholders do you have on your cap table?written answer · 150 words
- 51How many classes of shares does the company have?written answer · 150 words
Legal
- 52Who are the directors / officers of the company?written answer · 200 words
- 53If you have incorporated any other legal entities for your business, please list all their names, jurisdictions and dates (mm/yyyy) of incorporation.written answer · 200 words
- 54Are any founders covered by non-compete or IP agreements outside the business? If so, please explain how they may or may not overlap or conflict with your business.written answer · 200 words
- 55Is there any other relevant information that we should know about your company? Please share.written answer · 200 words
Goals
- 56Why is FounderFuel a good fit for you at this time?written answer · 200 words
- 57What would you want to accomplish during the program?written answer · 200 words
Closing
- 58Please upload your deck hereshort answerno limit
- 59How did you hear about FounderFuel?selectionno limit
bar = length the funder allows, from its stated limits
Judged against
- 1
Can these founders build a massive company?
Show them Give every founder a public LinkedIn, a group video and a full-time commitment, and show who has the technical depth to build it.◦
In the funder’s words · 2
- Team - Do we think the founders have the right mindset to build a massive company?
- Is something about this team/ tech/ traction exceptional?
- 2
Is this a venture-scale market opportunity?
What to show, and the funder’s 3 criteria behind it in Premium
- 3
Does the product deliver 10x value?
What to show, and the funder’s 1 criterion behind it in Premium
- 4
Is this the right stage to accelerate?
What to show, and the funder’s 3 criteria behind it in Premium
Where applicants fail
“Make sure anyone with the link can view the video (it can be an unlisted YouTube video, but it has to be public for us to be able to access it). Don't include any demo or screenshots of the product; this is about the team.”
“Please make sure anyone with the link can access the demo.”
“Please indicate currency used (USD vs. CAD), and only show revenue, not GMV.”
Premium · the rest of this brief
See all 8 rules that can reject you and every criterion you are judged on. Then we draft your application for you.
6 more rules that can reject you · 7 more criteria
Do you pass?
8 can rule you out; 3 are preferences. Tick the ones you meet.
Your business
Canadian entity or intent to create
For the 2023 program, FounderFuel is only able to invest in companies incorporated in Canada. If your company is incorporated elsewhere, please only continue filling out and submitting this application if you intend on creating a Canadian investible entity.
Planning a raise within 12 months
Who are aiming to raise a financing round in next 12 months following the program to continue its accelerated growth trajectory.
3 things this funder says you do NOT need, in Premium.
Documents to attach
Ticks are kept on this device.
The money
Investment$120K CAD: $100K SAFE, $20K equity
FounderFuel invests $120K CAD into each company that participates in the program. It is made up of a $100K SAFE with a 20% discount and a post-money valuation cap of $4M, as well as a $20K equity investment for 5% of the company in founder shares (all in CAD).
FeesWorkspace rental costs confirmed for shortlist
We have secured dedicated workspace at Notman House for the in-person weeks of the programming, the rental costs will be confirmed shortly and shared with shortlisted applicants.
From application to money
- Applications openTuesday, February 14th, 2023Applications open February 14th, 2023
- Applications closeApplications close March 12, 2023 at midnight
- Interviews and pitchApplication review, two interview rounds, final pitch
- Final offersthe week of April 3rd, 2023Final offers week of April 3rd, 2023
- Program runsProgram runs April 17th to August 4th, 2023
- Demo DayTuesday, July 11th, 2023Demo Day July 11th, 2023
In the funder’s words · 6
- Applications open
- Applications for FounderFuel's 2023 cohort opened on this date.
- Applications close
- Applications closed 4 weeks after they opened.
- Interviews and pitch
- The selection process includes the application review, two rounds of interviews, and one final pitch session.
- Final offers
- Final offers will be presented during this week.
- Program runs
- The 2023 program is a hybrid of remote work and 6 to 8 weeks in person in Montreal. (Monday, April 17th, 2023 to Friday, August 4th, 2023)
- Demo Day
- Demo Day falls on the eve of Startupfest (July 12-14).
Quoted lines are word for word from the source documents; lines marked ◦ are our reading of them.
Everything you need to win FounderFuel Accelerator
Not a marketing summary. The actual checklist, intel, and stack strategy reviewers look for.
- 4-document checklist with what each reviewer is actually checking
- Your Application Game Plan — the print-ready PDF the preview below describes
- 5-step application timeline with prep hours per step
- Insider tip from program officers on what separates winners
- 3-program stacking strategy to combine with compatible funding
- Success profile + evaluation criteria — exactly what reviewers score on
Application Playbook
Step-by-step process, required documents, and expenses
Application Steps
Required Documents 4
Eligible Expenses 1
Ineligible Expenses 1
Intake Periods
Deadline Notes
Ineligible Organizations
- 4 more application steps
- 2 more required documents
- 1 eligible expense
- 1 ineligible expense
- Intake periods
- Deadline notes
- Ineligible organizations
Funding Stack Strategy
Compatible programs, clawback risk, and combined funding potential
Compatible Programs
Clawback Risk
Not-applicable RiskHow FounderFuel Accelerator Compares
Side-by-side with similar programs
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Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the questions founders most often ask about FounderFuel Accelerator